Josephine Silone Yates: The first Black woman to hold a full professorship
Josephine Silone Yates was an African American teacher, journalist and clubwoman, who was the first African American certified to teach in the public schools of...
Category : Herstory
Althea Gibson: Queen of Tennis
“I Always Wanted to Be Somebody.” Althea Gibson was the first African American tennis player to win a Grand Slam title (the French Open). In...
The Eliza Winston Case
On August 21, 1860, enslaved African American Eliza Winston was freed from her Mississippi enslaver in a Minneapolis court. After being granted legal freedom, however,...
Henrietta Vinton Davis: Lady Commander Order of the Nile
Henrietta Vinton Davis was a Shakespearean actor and public speaker. She was proclaimed by Marcus Garvey to be “the greatest woman of the [African] race”....
Bridget “Biddy” Mason: From Bondage to Wealth
Bridget “Biddy” Mason was an African-American nurse and a Californian real-estate entrepreneur and notable philanthropist. Mason who was born into the Maafa (slavery) become free...
Mary Francis Hill Coley aka Miss Mary: Healer and Midwife
[dropcap size=small]M[/dropcap]ary Francis Hill Coley (August 15, 1900 – March 1966) was an African American lay midwife who is best known for being featured in...
Ethel L. Payne: The First Lady of the Black Press
“I fought all my life to bring about change, to correct the injustices and the inequities in the system.” Ethel L. Payne was an African-American...
Eva Beatrice Dykes: The first Black woman to fulfill the requirements for a doctoral degree
[dropcap size=small]E[/dropcap]va Beatrice Dykes was the first Black woman to fulfill the requirements for a doctoral degree and the third African American woman to receive...
Pauline Elizabeth Hopkins
[dropcap size=small]P[/dropcap]auline Elizabeth Hopkins (1859 – August 13, 1930) was a prominent African-American novelist, journalist, playwright, historian, and editor. Hopkins was one of the first...
Ophelia DeVore-Mitchell: The legendary fashion icon who redefined beauty
“I wanted to change the way people of color were seen across the United States. I wanted America to know that beauty isn’t just [whyte].”...